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Tuesday, 1 May 2012

With the continued presence of the Flycatcher at Flamborough, I made changes to the plans for the day and headed to work via the coast! There was little news on the way in the pouring rain but thankfully it came on the pager just before I arrived. Very few people on site, I guess most people with any distance to travel were waiting on confirmation as to what it was, think that could be a long wait.

Small weekday crowds - gotta love em!

Despite the continued rain, the bird showed really well, flycatching at moving quickly from bush to bush, often sitting on the exposed mud below the hawthorn bushes.

Like I said, highly mobile bird!!

I'll be completely honest and say that if I saw that bird on my own, it would be down as a Pied Fly, possibly noting more white than normal but I guess we'll have to leave it to the experts. DNA was obtained when it was trapped Monday evening, so we'll probably have to wait four or five months before anything is decided, even then it may come back as a hybrid. Just didn't fancy that message coming through in late September "Flycatcher at Flamborough April/May confirmed as Atlas Fly - First for Britain", unlikely I know but being so close to the bird, this could have been another Amur Falcon all over again, and we really don't want to go there do we?!?!

An added bonus for the day was a flyover by 2 Whimbrel (133) on the way home from work.﻿

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About Me

I've been birding since 1984 (8yrs old) and started twitching just after. Living in Norfolk was a great help to building up the list. Got married to Liz in 2001. My daughter, Amy, was born in 2006 and Toby in 2011. Birding has never been the same since!!
Twitching used to be all I thought and read about but now my family are the ones that matter in my life. Sure, I still wish I could go after every mega as soon as it breaks on the pager, but now I accept that I'm not going to see every new bird that turns up, so try to see what I can.